Canberra Now: The news in 90 seconds, on Wednesday, January 4

Thanks for coming back, or if you're a first time reader, then welcome. We've got the five Canberra things you need to know today, plus the latest gold from David Pope, all bundled up.

We're heading for a top of 26 today, but it looks like it's going to get pretty warm at the end of the week.

Here are the highlights:

Just driving around town lately you can start to feel it coming. Yes, that most-polarising of Canberra events, Summernats, is almost here again. Ben Sargent is firmly in the "love it" camp, and will be taking his beloved 1971 HQ Holden Monaro, and his three kids. For Mr Sargent, Summernats is not just about the cars, but the community around them. Finbar O'Mallon has more on the man and his machine. Don't worry, we'll have plenty more on Summernats in the coming days.

It's well and truly the age of social media. Almost every vessel in the Australian navy already has its own Facebook page, but that's not enough for Defence. Soon, every army regiment and air force squadron will, too. And of course the Department of Defence is going to start at the top, with its own top brass and senior public servants to be put through a special social media boot camp to ensure they know how to "stay on message". There are already more than 100 Defence social media accounts, and from the sounds of it there are many more to come. Fighting wars is as much about winning the information battle as it is the battle on the ground these days. Noel Towell has the details here.

It was only a couple of years ago that we were saying goodbye to the Raiderettes. The Canberra Raiders cheerleaders were dropped by the rugby league team in 2014, to be replaced by Rogue Dolls Australia and that caused plenty of controversy at the time. They became the Emeralds, and have been on the sidelines for the past three seasons. But now the Raiders will be only the second team in the NRL to drop their cheerleading squad (The Rabbitohs are the others, for those wondering). But what's going to take their place in 2017? A dance competition. While that might conjure up images of Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, the Raiders are actually putting out the call for local dance schools to perform. Alex Back has the story here.

Daniel Burdon has been digging through the ACT Health annual report again, and found some interesting numbers. It's wide-ranging "System Innovation Program", which aims to save money and increase efficiency in the health system, is behind a tripling in the amount the directorate spends on consultant and contractors over the past four years. It spent $18 million on them last financial year. While the total cost of the innovation program has raised some eyebrows in Canberra's health sector, many agree with the intentions behind it, given the ACT's reputation as having the most costly and inefficient hospital system in the country.

The top Canberra baby names for 2016 have been announced, and it seems Canberra parents have a thing for the British royals - again. Charlotte and William were the most popular baby names in the ACT in 2016 according to a list released by the ACT Government, the second year in a row both have topped the list. Given those two names have already had a year in the limelight, Jil Hogan brings us a photo of the adorable little Lachlan, whose name came in at second place on the boys list. Touch or click through for the full lists.